Daardra sends the orc into a deep slumber. Orett misses twice; Ghun heals; Eng misses.
The other remaining armored orc continues to tug and yell at the massive lizard and as it prepares to give it an encouraging kick the lizard reaches down and crushes the orc in its massive jaws. The sound of rending metal and bones fills the air punctuated by a brief scream that is quickly drowned out by blood filled lungs.
The two remaining orcs turn and flee back down the hill, clearly not willing to stand and die like so many before them.
A few moments later an exhausted looking Omast returns with a handful of warriors and archers. He looks about, taking notice of the now content lizard that continues to feast on the piles of bodies-Well....not sure why I was in such a hurry...
There is no further noise from the broken gates at the bottom of the hill and Omast leads his troops and the party down to them. A few minutes later a second portcullis is dropped into place and Omast has archers on the top of the walls sniping down at orcs below.
Omast-You lot should take shelter in one of the towers. You look like s$$+ and a little rest will probably help. I'll wake you when Kurst makes his way back over the walls. He should have some intelligence as to what our foe is doing and what comes next.
Advance to level 4. Rest returns 2 HP and all spells/abilities.
And there was much rejoicing!
After a hard sleep, Omast wakes you and lets you know that Kurst is back. You exit the tower to find that it is still dark. The town is more quiet, but you can still hear the occasional shout or cry and every once and a while an explosion from an incoming catapult round can be seen and heard.
A weary Kurst looks at the party admiringly; gone is any sign of the timid and untried young man. It as if in a single night he has been transformed into a seasoned veteran-I am glad to see all of you have survived. Omast told me of your stand in the Inner District and I saw what was left of the bodies, not that the lizard left much before we chased it off. You all have done well and I thank you for your service in the defense of Trunau.
Pleasantries aside, I have another mission for you. We were able to silence most of the artillery firing on us, but there is one rig we could not get to. To put it bluntly, I just ran out of able bodied troops to throw at it after taking down the other three. That damn thing continues to fire on us beyond our range to retaliate, and it has taken up a defilade position behind the Barterstones. I need you to get in there and knock it out of service. You don't have to kill every foe in sight, but just destroy the catapult or its crew; it's not like every orc knows how to fire one of those things.
I have some ropes set up along the cliff walls that will allow you to rapell out of sight of the orc forces and you should be able to make your way quietly towards the position without being seen. I'll take a group towards the front gates and make noise as if we are going to sortie out in hopes that it will draw their attention.
Any questions?
ooc: Are we all wearing red shirts?
"We'll do the best we can Kurst. Assuming we succeed, do we come back over the wall the same way we left?"
If nobody has any other questions head out.
Kurst frowns-I won't lie to you-I'm just not sure about that part.
The truth is your best option may be to stay outside the walls until the siege breaks once you finish your mission.
If it feels like you are getting a tough job it's because you are. Most of my elite troopers either died or are unfit for duty after tackling the other catapults. If we don't take this final one out I don't see how long the walls will last, much less the morale of the town. It's frustrating as hell to keep getting hit without being able to hit back.
He hands you an arrow.
Once you take down the catapult, fire this in the air. It will let off a red burst. Once our troops on the wall see it, we will fire a similar one that will burst green. Rally to where you see the burst. If you don't see us fire a response, it means we can't see a safe location to get you back on this side of the wall.
Gods with you.
You head to the cliff walls along the Western edge of the top level of Trunau. A squad of archers peers down into the darkness below. There are several coils of roped staked to the ground. A fierce looking half-orc approaches you-You the ones Kurst is sending down to the Bartersones? You look like you could crush Gorum's balls with a snap of your fingers so I'm guessing so. Well at least you do Ghun and your rock buddy. Not sure the other two could do much snapping but maybe they are more useful than they appear.
I've been keeping an eye down below and it looks like the orcs have given any hope of scaling the cliffs without catching more arrows than is healthy for them. Let me know you when are ready and my fellows will lower you down. I think if you take your time about it you should need about 30 minutes to get to the Barters and that damn rock cannon of theirs. You take that out and there is no way those bastards get in here.
"Yes, we go to Barterstones, maybe even come back too. Let's go."
"Ready, lower away."
The squad of archers lower you down into smoke and darkness. From time to time you pass the broken bodies of orc climbers full of arrows lying lifeless where the fell from further up, a grim testament to the orcs desire to destroy Trunau and its inhabitants.
From the bottom of the escarpment Trunau appears relatively peaceful and if you didn't know better, you would thing nothing amiss. You slowly make your way North
How many orc sentries and how spaced out are they? Are they by themselves or in groups? Any roving sentries? Do we need to climb to get to the catapult?
“How close do you need to be to make’m sleep Daardra?”
Scan the area.
I need to be within 30 ft., Eng.
Look about.
You can see four sentries and they all appear to be huddled around some coals trying to stay warm. You don't see any roving sentries. Also, you don't think you would need to climb up there as the catapult should in theory be on the far side of the boulders. You may take some fire from the sentries if a protracted fight breaks out.
Activate life link with Ghûn. Cast Pro from Evil on Ghûn just prior to group moving up to sentries.
“Do we want to try to sneak up and try to put the sentries to sleep? I could stay behind as I’m not very good at sneaking.”
That sounds good.
how many sneaking rolls do I need?
Just one. Remember that the first one will be waking up by the time you are able to hex the last one.
He won’t be waking up if we coup de grace him.
They will sleep for four rounds now.
The orcs are atop a series of large flat boulders that if Daardra sneaks up to she could hex them at the generous extreme range (30') of her hex. The easy (non-climbing) approach to the top lies on the other side where the catapult is supposed to be.
You see 4 sentries, so assuming she successfully hexes each one, by the time the last is slumbered the first would be waking up. CDG is going to be impossible from the foot of the boulders?
Feel free to call me if you want to talk through it.
If Daardra sleeps an orc, could someone then climb up the boulder and coup de grace it within 4 rounds? If so, what kind of climb DC would we be looking at?
"Do you have a spell that will help us to communicate quietly Daardra?"
Someone could climb up sure, but there are still the other (visible) orcs up there.
Yes, I do.
Cast Message on everyone.
I say we sneak by. They don't seem to be paying any attention and our main goal is destruction of the catapult.
when ready,
Sounds good
Eng will hang back and hide in place until the fighting starts.
Eng-I think the party is trying to sneak past the sentries to get at the catapult and on the far side of the boulders. You will be far removed from combat and the ability to influence what happens if you remain behind.
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The rest of the party moves forward and for a second it looks like Orett will stumble on a loose rock. As Eng moves to steady him, he stumbles over the same rock and clatters to the ground.
Yet Desna smiles upon you and the orcs huddling about their fire and peering intently at the walls of Trunau hear nothing. Orett pulls Eng to his feet and the party advances along the edge of the boulders until they can see the catapult crew and its guards. The catapult appears to be serviced by three engineers as a half dozen well armored and armed orcs stand guard. They appear oblivious to your approach.
Using message spell to be quiet.
“Any plan Daardra? Or just rush the orcs and kill them?”
"I'll try and sleep the toughest looking ones. Then we need to destroy the catapult, that's the most important result."
Daardra sees that one of the armored orcs looks to be a little more vigilant than the others and from time to time barks something to the others trying to keep them on alert. The catapult crew is fully engaged lofting flaming ordinance at the city.
There appears to be a stack of combustibles near the catapult that the orc crew is loading and lighting once ready to fire.
It looks like there's a pile of combustibles close to the catapult. I'm going to try and put the armored orc who's giving directions to sleep.Than I suggest Ghun and Orett charge up, take out the remaining orcs, while I try and sleep some more, than burn and wreck the catapult., says Daardra.
What do you guys think?
“Sounds good, hex away Daardra.”
Slumber hex, dc18 Will.
Stealth roll if I need it
Study target then move forward and attack.
Shoot at different orc.
Need Orett's action and I'll post the round.
Daardra sneaks forward to get within 30' hexing range and is spotted at the last moment by one of the guards. The one that appears to be in charge begins to bark out orders before the hex puts him to sleep. The remaining five orcs rush the party and are met by Ghun and Orett. One is hit by Eng's bolt.
On Ghun:
On Orett:
Orett post 2 rounds of action
I did post...Paizo ninja strikes again.
Advance with Ghun and attack.
Next round,
Attack!
Slumber hex one on Ghun
dc18 Will
-18hp
Did G hit first round?
-5 hp
Daardra slumbers one of Ghun's foes. Orett's attacks are thwarted by the orc's stout armor. Ghun's second strike (combined with his first) lay low an orc foe. Eng drills an org through a gap in the breastplate shoulder.
On Ghun:
On Orett:
Round 3!
-22hp
On one of Orett's orcs.
-10hp
Slumber hex one of Orett's orcs
dc18 will
Attack!